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NOON EDITION
ONE CENT
BOARB Of ASSESSORS GETS WALLOP
.THE DAY BOOK
An Adless Newspaper, Daily Except Sunday
VOL. 4, NO. 235
Chicago. Friday, July 2, 1915
398
CITY CAN FORFEIT THE
AUTOMATIC RIGHTS
Says Legal Adviser Foster Claims Also the City's
Right toOperate Municipal Phone Plant Did
s r
Folsom Make a Mistake?,
Yesterday was a bad day for Cor
poration Counsel Folsom, the Auto
matic Phone Co., et al. Att'y Stephen
Foster, phone and franchise expert,
said the city had the right to forfeit
the automatic phone properties.
The city, however, would never get
control of the phone company if it
relied on the ordinances prepared by
Corporation Counsel Folsom for tne
purpose, according to Foster.
Foster, who has been fighting the
Bell phone interests for years as at
torney for small companies which re
sisted the power of the "phone trust,"
was hired by the gas, oil and electric
light committee as its legal adviser.
His first opinion is in favor of a forfeit
'Not only has the city a right to
forfeit the rights of the Automatic
Phone Co." declared Foster, "but the
properties and the right to operate a
municipal phone plant will come as
well.
"Whether the city could forfeit
without court action is something I
have not yet determined, but there
is no doubt that the city has the right
to make the automatic company live
up to its contract.
"Records of previous litigation
show that the courts will always up
hold the right of the people over util
ity corporations when it comes to
forcing them to live up to their agree
ments. "The courts would, without any
hesitation, sustain a forfeiture pro
ceeding on the part of the city wheo
& u Wt - W W-J, J-L-Jl-J.fciai.